Dexter Drabbles
by XMarisolX
Summary: Miscellaneous drabbles based on the Dexter television series. Prompt: Home. CHAPTER 15: The effects of highway hypnosis and grief.
1. Shower

**Fandom: **Dexter  
**Title: **Shower**  
Characters: **Dexter/Rita**  
Prompt: **Bathtub**  
Word Count:** 100  
**Rating: **G  
**A/N:** Written for the Briefly Dexter 100-Word Drabble Challenge

* * *

Dexter joined the gym after Rita died. He'd drop the kids at Deb's or their grandparents' house (even at Elliot's one desperate night) then head to Bali's. He never stayed long—usually he didn't even work out. He'd just let the warm water purge him of another day's grime. The next morning he'd sing to Harrison and make the kids their lunches while they showered and got ready for school. The kids could do that, because they'd never learned exactly how it all ended...how Rita had ended. But Dexter still couldn't quite bring himself to get back into that bathtub.


	2. Shopping Trip

**Fandom: **Dexter**  
Title: **Shopping Trip**  
Characters: **Dexter, Cody, Astor, Harrison**  
Prompt: **Bathtub**  
Word Count:** 100  
**Rating: **G  
**AN:** Written for the Briefly Dexter 100-Word Drabble Challenge

* * *

Harrison was whiny; he had been since…well…lately. Dexter offered him his thumb to suck on.

"And which _size_ did you need?" the salesman asked.

"Cody, get outta there," Dexter scolded. Cody had gotten rowdier lately too. Dexter fumbled for his post-it note. "Um, 60 by 30 inches."

"We have several options you may like," the salesman said while flipping through a catalog.

Dexter was overwhelmed even _looking_ at them.

"Why do we even _need_ a new bathtub?" Astor asked while texting with a phone Rita wouldn't have approved of.

"Because we do," Dexter said, sighing. "We just do."


	3. Like Father?

**Fandom: **Dexter**  
Title: **Like Father?**  
Characters: **Dexter, Deb, Harrison**  
Prompt: **Language**  
Word Count:** 100  
**Rating: **PG-13  
**AN:** Written for the Briefly Dexter 100-Word Drabble Challenge. This one is different from the one I posted there.

* * *

"How was Harrison?" Dexter said, swooping the toddler off the floor.

"Adorable," Deb replied, as she packed up the last of Harrison's toys. She walked over and kissed his nose. "We learned a lot, didn't we?" she cooed. "What sound does a duck make?"

"Screw you," he giggled, innocently.

"No, that's the sound Auntie Deb makes," Dexter corrected.

"Actually that's the sound a fuck makes," she replied.

"Language!" Dexter cried.

"Simmer down," she said, walking off to grab a beer. "Besides, you're his role model—not me. Luckily for him."

"Yeah," Dexter replied, swallowing the panic he felt. "Lucky him."


	4. Hiding

**Fandom:** _Dexter_  
**Title: **Hiding  
**Characters: **Dexter  
**Prompt: **Urge  
**Word Count:** 100  
**Rating:** G  
**A/N:** Written for the Briefly Dexter 100-Word Drabble Challenge

* * *

After a punishing week, Dexter's urges have brought him back to the bay.

Lately, Harrison screams bloody murder for someone he can't have. Dexter's pleas for Cody to stop disappearing into the woods fall on deaf ears. And Astor… no issue is too small to provoke her hostility…

And tears.

Deb helps out, but Dexter can see she's overwhelmed, and so he takes on even more. The pressure leaves him weary, confused and overcome with… _new_ urges—urges to mourn, to ache, to grieve—until finally, alone on his boat, he weeps for the first time in his entire life.


	5. Body Language

**Fandom:** _Dexter_/_Six Feet Under_ crossover  
**Title: **"Body" Language  
**Characters: **Dexter Morgan, David Fisher  
**Prompt: **Language  
**Word Count:** 100  
**Rating:** PG  
**AN:** Written for the Briefly Dexter 100-Word Drabble Challenge

* * *

"Who was it?"

Dexter slowly turned to the man sitting next to him at the bar. "Huh?"

"I'm a funeral director. I can tell when someone's mourning."

"My wife," Dexter answered plainly.

The man nodded. "I'm sorry… for your loss."

Dexter didn't respond, just motioned for another vodka.

A large black man joined the funeral director at the bar. Dexter could see they were a couple.

"And you?" Dexter asked. "You're mourning too?"

"No, actually," the funeral director answered, and ventured a smile. "We're on our honeymoon."

Dexter nodded, and turned away. "Me too," he whispered, and downed the shot.


	6. Public Service Announcement

**Fandom:** _Dexter_  
**Title**: Public Service Announcement  
**Characters: **Dexter  
**Prompt: **Cut  
**Word Count:** 100  
**Rating:** G

* * *

Take 1

"Hello. I'm Dexter Morgan of the Miami-Dade PD. This summer… don't… um… line?"

Take 5

"Hello. I'm Dexter Morgan of the Miami-Dade PD. This summer, make sure your buckles are kidded-up."

Take 9

"Hello. I'm Morgan Dexter—"

"Cut," the director yelled. "You're getting worse!"

"I'm… sorry," Dexter said, frustrated.

The director sighed. "Maria chose you for this ad because she said you have kids."

"I… _do_," Dexter said.

"Do you_ love _them?" the director asked.

"Of course,"Dexter snapped angrily.

"Then act like it," the director replied. He sighed. "This your first acting gig?"

Dexter sighed. "No, actually."


	7. Sweet Dreams

**Fandom:** _Dexter_  
**Title**: Sweet Dreams  
**Characters: **Dexter  
**Prompt: **Cut  
**Word Count:** 100  
**Rating:** G  
**A/N:** Written for the Briefly Dexter 100-Word Drabble Challenge

* * *

Dexter has a recurring dream. He and Brian are young adults, maybe late teens. Laura is nearby, cooking (grilling?) and she brings them some food, although Dexter doesn't know what kind. Brian pulls out a knife, a sharp one that glistens in the sun, and he stands up and he starts cutting the food. Blood—lots of blood, like from something still alive—pours out and spills on the table… on the ground. Laura's gone now, and it's nighttime and they are—suddenly—on a boat and the boys… they laugh and laugh and laugh.

Dexter wakes up feeling happy.


	8. Haberdashery and Tears

**Fandom:** _Dexter_  
**Title**: Haberdashery and Tears  
**Characters: **Dexter and Cody  
**Description: **Cody has locked himself in the dressing room…and he won't come out.  
**Word Count:** 100  
**Rating:** G  
**A/N:** I wrote this one just because.

* * *

"How did you feel when your mom died?"

Dexter remembered feeling shocked… maybe a little confused. But he couldn't relate to the broken boy who'd locked himself in the dressing room.

"Like my heart would burst," Dexter answered.

"Me too," Cody said, voice trembling from behind the door.

"But," Dexter added. "I had a sister and dad that loved me through it… and you do too."

With that, Cody crawled out, wiping his tears with his sleeve.

"I think Mom would like this suit," he said.

"I do too," Dexter nodded. He motioned to the salesman. "We'll take this one."


	9. Debt

**Fandom:** _Dexter_  
**Title**: Debt  
**Characters: **Dexter and Deb  
**Description: **Dexter plans to prowl the night, but only makes it three feet past Deb's front door.  
**Word Count:** 100  
**Rating:** PG-13

* * *

The faint blast of a foghorn means it's midnight. Dexter's only been outside a few minutes, but it feels like hours.

"I thought you were leaving," Deb says, suddenly appearing.

"I can't," he replies. He's frozen here.

She lays a hand on his back. "Dexter…"

He turns. Her eyes are tranquil and steady like glass, but warmer.

"Did… did you do it?"

He wants to say yes. He owes Rita more than numbness and guilt. He owes her blood. His blood.

"No," he sighs.

"Because if you did-"

"I didn't," he snaps. His eyes are steely. "I couldn't… ever."


	10. Human

**Fandom:** _Dexter_  
**Title**: Human  
**Characters: **Dexter, Astor  
**Description: **Even Dexter gets thirsty…sometimes at midnight.  
**Prompt: **Midnight  
**Rating:** K  
**Spoilers:** Season 4  
**A/N:** Written for the Briefly Dexter 100-Word Drabble Challenge

* * *

Dexter awakens fitfully with a dull ache in his back. He identifies the baby's rattle as the culprit and remembers that Harrison (and _only_ Harrison) is beside him in bed—as good a reason as any to get a cold one in the middle of the night. His watch beeps… it's midnight. He finds Astor in the kitchen… crying. After a tortured minute, he offers this…

"I wish I could help you."

She glances up at him with derision, and Dexter can taste her venom in his mouth.

Only Astor can make him feel less human than his bone saw.


	11. Unwind

**Fandom:** _Dexter_  
**Title**: Unwind  
**Characters: **Debra  
**Description: **Deb goes to unwind.  
**Word Count:** 100  
**Rating:** T  
**A/N: **For the Briefly Dexter 100-Word Drabble Challenge

* * *

She hasn't seen this many lanes since Rita and the kids took her to the Peachtree Bowling Alley. But this...

_This_ is no place for children.

She goes to the counter and hands Tom her credit card, license…and badge.

"Long time no see," he smiles.

"Yeah," she nods. She doesn't mention getting shot.

"One hour?"

"Sure."

"Will you be renting?"

"Nah, I'm good."

"K. That's ten dollars with the discount," he says, and hands her the receipt to sign. She lifts her earmuffs and gun from the counter.

"Have fun on the shooting range," he says.

She chuckles. "I will."


	12. Threads

**Fandom:** _Dexter_  
**Title**: Threads  
**Characters: **Quinn and Deb  
**Prompt:** Shopping  
**Description: **Quinn has one question: Where do these guys shop?  
**Word Count:** 100  
**Rating:** G

* * *

Angel's in a Hawaiian shirt.

Dexter's wearing pants that look like they came from Wal-Mart.

And Tom thinks a wifebeater is appropriate under a suit jacket. Quinn is _this close_ to informing Tom that it's _absolutely_ not when—at that _exact moment_—Masuka enters and announces, "I am _not_ wearing the shirt of the girl I slept with last night."

"Am I the only one who's even _heard_ of J. Crew?" Quinn asks no one in particular.

"I think they've _heard_ of it," Deb answers from behind her computer monitor. She looks up at Masuka's polka-dotted V-neck T. "Or not."


	13. But As for Me and Dexter, We Believe

**Fandom: **Dexter  
**Characters: **Astor and Harrison  
**Prompt: **Shot  
**Word Count:** 100  
**Description:** Astor is visiting after her first semester at college.  
**Spoilers:** None  
**Rating:** K

* * *

Astor's finishing the last of the ice-cream and watching _Elf _for the 78th time—it never gets old.

"Is Santa going to bring me a water gun?" Harrison asks.

Astor learned in Philosophy class that mythology in all its forms retards human advancement and sedates the masses.

"Santa Clause isn't real," she says, licking her spoon.

Harrison is paralyzed by the news… then sympathetic.

"We should tell Dad," he suggests.

"NO!" Astor blurts. Dexter would be… not happy.

"Why not?" Harrison asks.

Astor scoots over, placing a hand on his back. "Because he'd be disappointed. This is our little secret."


	14. Threatened

**Title:** Threatened  
**Fandom:** _Dexter_  
**Title**: Threatened  
**Characters: **Debra  
**Description: **Deb's a freshman in high school and has a bone to pick with senior Dexter.  
**Word Count:** 100  
**Rating:** T  
**A/N: **Thisis an AU fic. I've been toying with the idea of making it a complete story. Feedback is cherished.

* * *

Dexter Moser sees Debra Morgan by the lockers and cringes.

"How do you know my dad?" she demands.

"Who's your dad?" he answers.

"Bull. I saw you guys talking in the hall."

"I don't know wh—"

"TELL ME!" she yells, grabbing his collar.

"I don't wanna hurt you," Dex admonishes. She lets go.

"He's cheating with your slut mom, isn't he?"

Dexter returns her glare, saying nothing.

"Stay the hell away from him," she snarls, turning to leave.

"Or I could tell him your boyfriend's in college."

She freezes.

"We all have secrets Deb," he says, and walks away.


	15. Conscience

**Title:** Conscience  
**Description:** Because Dex doesn't really… understand.  
**Fandom:** _Dexter_  
**Genre:** Het  
**Characters:** Rita and Dex  
**Disclaimer:** It is with a heavy heart that I admit that the exclusive rights to Dexter aren't mine, nor will they ever be. If this is news to you, we have bigger fish to fry.  
**Rating:** T

* * *

Dex and Rita have sex for the first time after the whole Lila debacle. Dex thinks it went well—Rita's… _satisfied_. Afterward, he pulls her close and they cuddle for a while.

"I'm here 100%," she says suddenly.

Dex nods. "I know."

"I just,"— she sits up—"don't want you to worry."

Dex stares at her a long while; he's confused. "Worry?"

"With guilt," she says assuringly. "I'm ready to put it all behind me. I ready for… _us_ to put it behind us.

Dex nods wordlessly, not daring to speak and risk betraying the fact that he feels… nothing.


	16. Splintered

**Title:** Splintered  
**Description:** The effects of highway hypnosis and grief.  
**Fandom:** _Dexter_  
**Genre:** Angst  
**Characters:** Dexter  
**Spoilers:** Episode 5.01, "My Bad"  
**Disclaimer:** It is with a heavy heart that I admit that the exclusive rights to _Dexter_ aren't mine, nor will they ever be. Although I do own Michael C. Hall. He's mine.  
**Rating:** K+

* * *

He's heard of highway hypnosis, and this must be it: a moment ago he was wide awake in bed, and now…

He's standing here.

And not sure of what he wants, really, but wandering the abandoned corridors and feeling the splintered, wooden panels under his fingers feels something like healing.

He remembers what it was like to love a woman once... Laura. He'd cherished that, because it reminded him of when he was human… when he could feel. But now, returning to his boyhood home on the day he buries Rita, loving a woman mostly feels like emptiness and pain.


End file.
